The Commercial Space Act for 1997 (H.R. 1702) was passed by the
U.S. House of Representatives late last night.

Congratulations and thanks to all the NSS space supporters and
members who worked earlier this year to encourage their
representatives to support the bill. Congratulations also to the
staffers at the House Science Committee Subcommittee on Space and
Aeronautics who worked hard to move this through, including Eric
Sterner and Jim Muncy.

This is a victory, but a partial one. There still remains the
Senate, where a companion bill to H.R. 1702 has yet to be
introduced and, at this point, will most likely not be introduced
until next year. According to staffers for Senator Bob Graham
(R-FL), a draft of a companion bill is still in the works, however,
we have learned that this may not be the only version that is
proposed. More on that to come.

These words from a press release issued by the House Science
Committee early this morning: "We are transforming the way this
country deals with commercial space issues," House Science
Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. said. "Passage and
eventual enactment of H.R. 1702 will provide an environment which
will allow the U.S. commercial space industry to flourish."

"This legislation will help America win the new, commercial
'space race'," stated Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee Chairman
Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA). "Today the House of Representatives did
its job. Now the American people need to contact their Senators and
the White House to ensure its enactment into law early next
year."

The Commercial Space Act of 1997 streamlines regulations and
promotes a stable business environment for the commercial space
industry. The bill includes the following provisions: (1) directs
NASA to study commercial possibilities for the International Space
Station; (2) amends the Commercial Space Launch Act to license
commercial space transportation vehicles to reenter Earth's
atmosphere and return space payloads to Earth; (3) encourages
policies to secure the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS) as the
world's standard; (4) streamlines the licensing process for remote
sensing satellites; and, (5) requires the government, in most
cases, to procure domestic commercial space transportation services
for U.S. government payloads.

About the "NSS Capital Capsule"
The Capsule is a timely report of highlights from Capitol Hill
hearings and other events involving space issues. Prepared by NSS
staff or volunteers who attend in person, the Capsule provides NSS
members and activists an "insider's" look into the thoughts of our
national elected officials on space issues.

The National Space Society is an independent space advocacy
group headquartered in Washington, DC. Its 25,000 members and 95
chapters support the creation of a spacefaring civilization. For
more information on the NSS and our future in space, visit
http://www.nss.org/.